Theatre at the 2016 Adelaide Festival

Highlights of Artistic Director David Sefton’s fourth and final Adelaide Festival of Arts in 2016 include an epic theatrical spectacle among its 32 theatre, music, dance and visual arts events. The line-up includes 8 world premieres, 20 Australian premieres and 18 events exclusive to Adelaide over 18 days from 26 February to 14 March 2016.

Offering the kind of exclusive and momentous theatre experience synonymous with the festival, the award winning, epic, 11-hour trilogy from National Theatre of Scotland and National Theatre of Great Britain, The James Plays makes its Australian debut exploring the lives of the three Stewart kings in a tumultuous 15^th century Scotland.

Packed with royal games, power struggles and the battle for the throne, The James Plays (UK) is historical drama for a contemporary audience. Full of gripping political and familial intrigue, stage TV and film writer Rona Munro’s epic trilogy can be seen individually or together as an 11-hour theatrical marathon.

“The James Plays is the piece that opened the Edinburgh International Festival last year,” says David Sefton. “It is the first time the National Theatre of Scotland and the National Theatre of Great Britain have worked together. It's huge and what we love in Adelaide, a big epic cycle.  It’s large scale, major story telling.

“The full cycle will be told on Saturday and Sunday and we will also do them one at a time, so James 1 will play on the opening Friday night of the festival, then 2 & 3 early the following week. The full cycle is 11 hours, which is just under 8 hours of the production, but 11 hours when you include the dinner breaks and intervals.   I saw it as the full cycle and do actually advise doing it that way. It’s pretty great to do it all that way and Adelaide loves its theatrical epics.

“I sat there in Edinburgh and thought this has Adelaide written all over it!  It is kind of old school, great theatrical conventional story telling.  I love The Telegraph quote ‘better than Shakespeare!’.

“It’s all about telling the stories of this century of Scottish Kings and the interaction with England, with loads of historical information that is little known. It was a massive success for both companies.”

Images of The James Plays by Manuel Harlen.

Italian director Romeo Castellucci is one of the most important figures in contemporary theatre. His latest work Go Down, Moses is striking, esoteric and abstract. Exploring existential doubts and uncertainties from the Old Testament Book of Exodus, this dark, deep and divisive production is a profound meditation on the human psyche.

“Italy’s Societas Raffaello Sanzio, for me, is one of Europe's most important theatre companies,” says David Sefton, “certainly one of the world’s most contentious theatre companies! Castellucci’s work has not been seen in Australia for nearly a decade.  It’s very important work, very contentious, always gets people arguing. I’ve worked with Romeo on and off for fifteen years. Romeo completely breaks down everything. Its always challenging and extraordinary, highly visual, highly cerebral work. Go Down, Moses is all around the Moses myth and stories of missing children.”

Synchronising live music, stylised performance and handmade animation, 1927’s (UK) award-winning dystopian fable Golem is ike a giant graphic novel come to life, exploring our relationship with technology and one of the great questions of the modern world – who or what is in control?

“1927 is a fantastically fabulous UK company that has been around for about ten years,” says David Sefton. “I saw their first ever show about ten years ago in Edinburgh and they have just done The Magic Flute at this year’s Edinburgh Festival with Barry Koskie, who is a mssaive fan.

“They have done an arc from small fringe company to being massive now.  They have a very distinctive style, it’s a little bit Shockheaded Peter, with a bit of baroque gothic going on, but its very, very funny and quite distinctive. I’m very pleased to have them in my last festival.

“Golem was the Christmas show at the Old Vic last year, and was extremely popular show, a massive success in London. It all looks very low tech but it is all highly technological. It takes a lot of practice to look that spontaneous! It’s a Golem myth, sort of a kids show but only for kids over 12.  There is a band behind the scrim and the actors are interacting with life size video of the Golem…. It’s incredibly cool, very funny. The show goes on to the STC after Adelaide.”

Image of Golem by Bernhard Mueller

Continuing the examination of modern anxieties, local theatre work Deluge explores how our brains and souls are being transformed by a world of rapidly rising information. The debut show from Phillip Kavanagh and Nescha Jelk’s new South Australian theatre company, TinyBricks, weaves together five different narratives, played out simultaneously, as 10 characters attempt to find meaning and connection without drowning in the flood.

Internationally-acclaimed Adelaide theatre makers Slingsby present the world premiere of The Young King by Oscar Wilde, a family-friendly production staged within an enchanting forest-world in the former Dazzeland amusement complex in Adelaide’s Myer Centre.

Written by daring contemporary British playwright Martin Crimp, The Country is the latest adaptation from dynamic theatre and dance creative team Jo Stone and Paulo Castro. The cryptic thriller is set against an idyllic rural backdrop, where stability and serenity make way for suspicion and deceit. 

Featuring Catherine McClements (Rush, Water Rats), the State Theatre Company of South Australia production The Events follows a community's search for compassion, peace and understanding in the wake of unthinkable violence. Opening on a community choir rehearsal, the play will showcase a different local choir each night, in a beguiling fusion of theatre and music. 

www.adelaidefestival.com.au